The Different Faces of Our Love
by Ajerzaaddict
Summary: Oneshots written for Jerza week from 26 May to 2 June 2013 on Tumblr. Themes: Hope, Freedom, Atonement, Stars, Promise, Love, Forever and Wrap-up.
1. Day 1 Hope

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail and it's characters, Hiro Mashima dose.**

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**Heaven**

Jellal never truly understood the meaning of "Heaven".

"Heaven" was a place where you would be enslaved to work until you died when he was a child. If you ever had any will to resist, any thought of escape or any dream for freedom, all of them would quickly crumble due to the repeated inhuman treatments you received every day.

It was a place full of tortures, screams, tears, blood, pain, fear and hate. But somehow, he also see hope in life in such hopeless conditions in the "Heaven".

It was all because he had Grandpa Rod who was always caring and would give him guidance. He also had friends like Miliana, Sho, Wally and Simon who needed his support and encouragement. And lastly, he had Erza whose simply presence could magically warm and light him up when he felt down.

He wanted to believe that someday, one day, he, Grandpa Rob, his friends and Erza could all escape from the "Heaven" and find freedom.

But the meaning of "Heaven" changed for him one day. It became a place where he could make his wildest dream to bring true freedom to the world come true during his teenage time.

In this new "Heaven" of his, he didn't rule by oppressing others with tortures. Instead, he skillfully cheated his friends and all the people to stay in the "Heaven" and to work for his dream voluntarily. He banished Erza from the "Heaven" and threatened her to remind silence with the safety of her friends because she was disloyal to him by refusing his offer to share his dream with her. He deceived the Magic Council, Erza and practically everyone with his thought projection "Siegrain" while his true self was monitoring everything in the "Heaven". He then tricked Erza to give up her attack on him when they finally met again in the "Heaven" so that he could make her as the final sacrifice in achieving his goal.

He truly believed that he was bringing a brand new hope to the world and all the betrayals were necessary and worthy.

However, he failed. Or more accurately, he gave up everything when he realized that the dream was actually a nightmare.

"Heaven" no longer existed in his life from that moment on.

He went into coma. Then he was revived followed by amnesia. He was put in jail and recovered all the lost memory. He was sentenced to death but was broken out by Ultear and Meredy who wanted to atone for their sins.

He stepped on the path to redemption with the company of the two former members of Grimoire Heart. He no longer cared what "Heaven" was. He only knew that he would not return to his old "Heavens" again, yet it was hopeless for him to enter "Heaven" after death if it really existed, because it would be a place only for good people to go in afterlife.

Until now. For the first time in his life, he discovered what "Heaven" truly meant to him.

He knew he didn't deserve to have Erza. He hurt her too deep and too many times. But one look at the sadness and emptiness in her eyes when he bid her farewell, he suddenly realized that he owed her too much and the only way he could repay her was to stay by her side to love her with his whole heart, just liked how she always loved him with her life.

He finally confessed to her.

It was the reason why Erza was now sleeping beside him, head resting on his right arm and hands lightly pressed against his chest, while his left arm wrapped around her waist, trying to pull her closer to him without awakening her.

Erza looked so beautiful and peaceful. If there was angle, she must be one who came down to earth from "Heaven" then went through hell only to save this human who had once became demon that was him, he thought to himself. He was able to regain the hope for a better tomorrow out of his despairing and guilty life because of her love and forgiveness. He never felt so relieved, satisfied and completed in his life before. He believed that the feelings of living in "Heaven" should be no different, and any place with Erza by his side could be "Heaven".

And he just wished that he could stay in Erza's "Heaven" till death tore them part.

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A/N: The idea of "What is heaven to Jellal?" in this one-shot came to me when I was captured by the lyrics "I tell you all the time heaven is the place on earth with you" in the song "Video Game" by Lane Del Rey. I tried to add some element of "hope" in it so that it could fit the theme of day 1 of Jerza week.


	2. Day 2 Freedom

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail and it's characters, Hiro Mashima dose.**

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**Bound by Your Name**

"It's you who named Erza 'Scarlet'?"

Jellal felt a bit uncomfortable at how Ultear rolled her eyes disbelievingly and looked at him like he was an idiot after she had found out the secret of Erza's last name.

"You surely treated Erza as if she was your possession."

"No! I never meant that!"

Really, his intention was all pure and innocent when he suggested "Scarlet" as Erza's last name based on the color of her hair. He simply thought that it was too lonely for Erza to not have a last name when everyone did. Wally did somehow query him for giving a last name to another person too causally, but he didn't care how Wally thought of his act. He only cared for Erza's reaction. When Erza accepted "Scarlet" as her last name with a smile on her face, he felt happy to see her being happy.

"What was your original intention didn't matter at all." Ultear waved her hand at him as if she was trying to get rid of an annoying fly. "Don't you know that naming is like an act of declaring your ownership over something? It was like you were declaring to Erza that 'You belong to me' when you named her."

"Erza was not, is not and will not be, mine."

"Well, I think it is clear that Erza feels otherwise."

Jellal didn't want to admit what Ultear said was true. But deep inside his heart, he knew that Erza did strongly bind herself to him because she was always keeping "Scarlet" as her last name no matter how many hard times he had put her through.

Sometimes, he couldn't help but think that it might actually be a curse he put on Erza when he gave her the last name "Scarlet". A curse which bound Erza to him regardless of who he became, what he did and how he treated her.

That would explain a lot of Erza's unreasonable actions when dealing with him. Like why she couldn't kill him when she had the best chance but would want to die with him when facing the Etherion. Like why she didn't allow him to kill himself and rejected the freedom he offered even he had killed Simon, hurt her and her friends and had already forgotten about her. Like why she would still care about his safety and feelings although he pushed her away before their lips touched and even refused her by lying about having a fiancé.

He just hoped that his curse could be broken one day, so that Erza would no longer suffer from any harm, pain and heartbreak caused by him.

"I will do anything to make sure Erza is freed from me."

"Really? How? Like asking Erza to marry any other man besides you so that she will have a new last name which has nothing to do with you?" Ultear questioned Jellal with a sneer. But that was not the end of her attack. She crossed her arms and looked at him with an accusing expression. "You actually want to get away from the burden _your_ Erza put on you when you said you would free her from you, don't you? You want your own freedom, not Erza's."

"Wait, Ultear! That's not…"

"You are such an irresponsible man, Jellal." Ultear shook her head at him disapprovingly before walking away, leaving him alone in the cave, speechless.

After a moment, Jellal sighed. Ultear might be right to a certain extend.

Might be he simply want to be freed from any responsibility for whatever happened to Erza in the future by releasing the binding he created between him and Erza from the moment he gave her "Scarlet" as last name. He already had had enough to be the cause of many unfortunate events happened to Erza in the past. He never wanted the burden of guilt from hurting Erza be increased further more, which would definitely crash him one day.

But he felt that it was unfair for Ultear to call him irresponsible, for he knew that even he had become nobody in Erza's eyes, he would still be willing to even give up his life to save Erza if needed.

He guessed that he just couldn't be a free person, after all. Not because he was a fugitive, but because he was never the true owner of his heart.

Jellal wondered how things would be different if he never did the naming for Erza in the first place. Would they walk their road of life freed from other's influence because there would be no more sense of belonging or responsibility to bind them together? He was certain that without his presence, Erza would have lived a better life. But would there be any value for him to live a free life if there was no Erza in it?


	3. Day 3 Atonement

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail and it's characters, Hiro Mashima dose.**

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**Till You Come Back to Me**

"We are leaving tomorrow."

Erza kept her head down and stirring the lemonade with the straw rather unnecessarily after hearing what Jellal said. She knew that he was gazing at her from her left side, but she didn't want him to find out what her expression looked like now.

"Erza?"

Noticing that Erza neither look at him nor talk to him, Jellal tried to get her attention by calling her name. He simply wanted to see her face and hear her voice once again before they part their ways again for only god knew for how long. He couldn't help but feel hurt by how she was ignoring him. But then, who was he to complain if she didn't want to communicate with him ever again? He was someone who had hurt her deeply after all.

There was still no response from Erza after 10 seconds. Jellal sighed. _So that is it_, he concluded, _she doesn't want to have contact with me anymore_.

"Goodbye, Erza."

Erza finally raised her head and turned to look at Jellal. He had already got up from the stool and was ready to leave.

"You haven't finished your drink."

Jellal stopped moving at the time she spoke and looked at her with a surprised expression on his face. She took a deep breath before continuing what she wanted to say.

"How about finishing it before you go?"

Jellal looked straight into her eyes as if he was trying to read her thoughts, which made her tensed up. He then smiled and nodded at her before sitting down again. She watched him taking a sip of the beer in the half-emptied mug as she finally made up her mind to ask him the questions that were hanging in her heart.

"So, you three don't have any plan to settle down, right?"

All members of Crime Sociere had been removed from the list of wanted criminals due to their contributions in the war against the dragon. That meant they were all legally free citizen now that they didn't have to move from one place to another to hide from the Magic Council.

This time, it was Jellal's turn to try not to look at Erza by keeping his head down, staring at his mug of beer.

"Ultear and I both thought that we should continue pursuing for our goal of defeating every dark guild, because it was the best way to redeem our sins by saving as many people as we could from dark magic. We couldn't do it if we stay at the same place all the time. We did hope that Meredy could settle down in one of the legal guild to stay away from our darkness from now on. But she refused. So, we shall walk the path together as we were doing in the past."

Erza of course understood Jellal's need to redeem his sins, and she would never allow herself to ask him to give up his mission to stay by her side just because she wanted him so bad. That would be selfish.

But a small part of her still had to wonder, why she had to suffer from being separated from the man she loved so dearly? Was it a kind of punishment for something she did wrong in the past? Liked how she was unable to save Jellal in time to allow him being possessed, or how her weakness resulted in Simons' sacrifice for her?

And if that was truly the case, could she be allowed to re-unite with the man who held her heart for just once in a while instead?

"Jellal, could you come back to see me every time after you defeat a dark guild?"

Jellal was surprised by what Erza asked the second time in this night. He let his brownish-green eyes meet her chocolate-brown ones which were filled with eager anticipation. His heart ached knowing his answer would let her down.

"I don't worth your waiting, Erza."

"And I don't deserve to see the man I love?"

The sadness in Erza's voice was almost unbearable for Jellal to hear.

"No!" He objected what Erza said firmly. "It's me. Please understand Erza, I don't deserve your love…I had hurt you before and I-I don't want to hurt you again."

"But you are hurting me by staying away from me." Erza turned away her head from Jellal, whispered so lightly as if she was only talking to herself.

But Jellal did hear her words and felt like being slapped in the face. Of course it would hurt her if he didn't show up in front of her again, he realized now. It was just like how he felt hurt when she ignored him earlier.

"I am sorry, Erza, for nearly hurting you again being inconsiderate of your feelings." Jellal wrapped his arm around Erza's shoulders, slowly pulling her closer to his side. "I will come back to you whenever I have the chance, if that could compensate for the hurt I had done to you."

"Your come back will make me happy." Erza responded while resting her head on his shoulder.

The time of waiting would be long and lonely, but Erza was determined to overcome the hardship. She would keep on waiting for him till the day he felt that what he did was enough for atoning for his sins. By that time, it would also be the end of her punishment.


	4. Day 4 Stars

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail and it's characters, Hiro Mashima dose.**

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**Starlight**

Erza got up from her bed after spending over two hours in it, trying to fall asleep but failed.

She went to the kitchen to get herself a glass of milk. While drinking the white liquid sip by sip, she looked out from the window and saw numerous stars scattered across the boundless dark blue sky. The view reminded her another sleepless night when she was still in the Tower of Heaven.

She was wiped in the daytime because she failed to complete the tasks assigned to her timely, which gave her several wounds on her legs and arms. The physical pain she felt from her injured skin and muscles had prevented her from falling into sleep. She only allowed herself to sob quietly because she didn't want to wake up others. But Jellal heard her and found out what happened to her. To distract her from the pain, he guided her to look at the stars through that one little window opened up at the ceiling of their cell and started telling her stories about stars. Stars were the first smile of new born babies, spirits of ancestors and jewelry wore by goddesses…she finally fell asleep while listening to these stories told by his comforting voice.

But as a grown-up now, she knew that stars were not smile, spirits or jewelry but only one kind of celestial objects in the universe.

And some of the stars she was now seeing in the sky even not existed in this present time she was now living in. These stars had died at a time unknown to her and what she saw twinkling now, were only their light shined from the time when they still existed but just reached the earth after long time of traveling in the universe.

She was always curious about which stars were giving her a glimpse of the past when appreciating the beauty of the starry night. But sometimes, like now when she was not in a good mood, she would be simply thinking worriedly that might be the love she felt from Jellal was similar to the light shined from those deceased stars, which was only a sight from their past but not something existed in the present.

She loved Jellal as a child back then and as an adult now. She could tell that he loved her the same way when he tried to kiss her which was just prevented by his own guilt. She could still feel his concern for her during the Grand Magic Game, and she knew how much he worried about her safety in the war against the dragons that he was seriously injured from protecting her.

However, Jellal distanced himself from her again after the war ended and being freed from the Magic Council. He rejected her invitation to join Fairy Tail's party although finally forced to present by Ultear. He only talked to her when her guild mates were around her although everyone was smart to retreat from their surrounding soon enough. He refused to tell her where Crime Socière was heading to although Meredy gave her a note of hint secretly.

The way he came close to her but then kept her at arm's length again really confused her. She was no longer sure whether the affections he showed her before were real or faked.

Did he think that he still loved her at the beginning of their reunion but then realized that he held no more feelings towards her after having more contact with her? So he decided to stay away from her from now on?

Or, was it simply that he didn't love her anymore in the first place but took it as a compensation for his wrong doings in the past to stand by her side when she was in danger? So he had no will to keep their relation in the time of peace?

She hated to guess the true reason of Jellal's unexplained change in attitude in these ways, for it hurt her to think that his love for her had died away.

The only thing that kept her hope on their relation was that Jellal hadn't rejected her openly, yet, even though he was trying to stay away from her. But of course, it was also possible that he didn't want to embarrass her and therefore decided to tell her his true feelings only if she asked.

And she was suspicious that, although being well-known as the fearless Titania, she could gather the courage to find out the truth from Jellal's mouth. It might be painful to live in uncertainty, but it would be more painful for her to loss his love in her life. She would rather hold on to the illusion of love projected from their past until he took the initiative to reveal the truth to her.

Erza felt a bit dizzy thinking too hard about Jellal, and a wave of tiredness was slowly climbing up her body. Putting down the empty glass, she returned to her bed and after a few moments, fell asleep.

.

.

.

Far away from Fairy Hills at the south of the country, Jellal was sitting at the balcony of the little house at which Crime Socière settled down as their first headquarters. Looking up to the starry sky which he always loved how striking yet mysterious it looked, an old memory of him telling Erza stories of stars suddenly popped up in his mind. He smiled bitterly thinking how pure their relation used to be but how complicated it was now.

Jellal was missing Erza, but he could not see her, not now at least.

He had re-considered his future after nearly losing his life when fighting against the dragons along with Erza. He was still determined to spend his remaining lifetime to atone for his sins, but he also came to think that might be he could just give himself one chance to search for happiness.

He therefore set himself a target. If he could make it within 3 years that was before he would turn 30, he would confess to Erza asking her to be the woman in his life. He swore to concentrate all his time and effort in reaching the target that he would not allow himself to be distracted by any other thing, even Erza. No doubt that he was giving himself a hard time, but it was a serious self-test which he must pass to prove to his own self that he did deserve Erza's love.

He figured that it was better not to tell Erza about his plan because he didn't want to give her false hope or prevent her from finding a better man. He was also well aware of the possibility of Erza rejecting him even if he confessed to her finally.

But starring at the twinkling stars, Jellal secretly wished that the love between he and Erza would be as long lasting as the light shined from the brightest star in the sky, that although it was born from a long lost past, it could continue to shine in a future with many years to come.


	5. Day 5 Promise

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail and it's characters, Hiro Mashima dose.**

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**Promise You My Life**

_"I have a fiancée."_

_…_

_"She must be very important to you, right."_

_"Ah…yeah…"_

_"So, she's your reason for living."_

_"I think so…"_

.

.

.

Erza had never before hated to see the color of red so much liked now. She couldn't understand why the pressure from her hands pressing against the wound on Jellal's chest could not stop the blood from running out from his body. She could feel the warmth of the crimson liquid kept flowing between her fingers before being soaked up by the fabric of his cloth.

In the middle of trying to stop more blood from losing from Jellal, Erza took a quick glance at Jellal's face. His face had drained of color, and his lips looked terribly dry and white. He was definitely having a hard time in maintaining his usual calm and cool expression since his face twisted, giving an expression that was a mixture of pain, fear and sadness. His eyes barely stayed open, and mouth opened gasping for air soundly. Erza couldn't help but panic even more seeing how Jellal was suffering from losing his force of life gradually.

"Hold on Jellal! I'll save you! Don't give up!" Erza burst out, voice sounded hoarse.

"I am…sorry…"Jellal responded in a week voice.

"No!" Erza interrupted Jellal before he could say anything that would frighten her further more. "You will live! Remember? You will live for your fiancée!"

"Forgive me." Jellal's eyes were filled with sorrow while panting out his words from his quivering lips. "I lied. I don't…have a fiancée…"

_I won't live through this._ Erza could hear these unspoken words hidden behind Jellal's untimely apology ringing in her head.

"Then I'll be your fiancée!" Two streams of tears were falling down from Erza's eyes, running across her face rapidly. "Please live for me, Jellal! Please!"

A faint smile graced Jellal's lips when he heard what Erza offered to him. But before he could answer to her wish, his eyelids finally became too heavy for him to keep them open and he unconsciously closed his eyes slowly.

.

.

.

When Jellal opened his eyes again, the first thing he saw was the white ceiling above him. The next thing he realized was that he was lying on a soft bed. He then looked around and recognized the place he was staying in now was Fairy Tail's infirmary. He turned his head to his left side the next and this time, he found a red head resting on a pair of crossed arms placed on his bedside.

"Erza." Jellal whispered. The red head trembled a little in respond to his calling before rising up slowly from its' current position.

Erza looked tired and worried, but sighed in relief after staring at him for a few seconds.

"Jellal." Jellal noticed that tears started filling up Erza's eyes. "You woke up, finally."

Jellal was at first unsure for the reason for Erza being emotional. But after focusing his mind on recalling what had happened between them before, he remembered a desperate Erza trying to save him after he received a blow of dark magic in Erza's place during the joint operation between Fairy Tail and Crime Sorcière against Tartaros.

"I'm fine now, don't worry." Jellal wanted to ask how he was saved, but then considered comforting a tearing up Erza should come in first priority.

Erza nodded at him and gave him a small smile. They let silence filled their space, enjoying a moment of peace and calmness, before Jellal spoke up again.

"Erza." Jellal cupped Erza's right cheek with his left hand palm. "Thank you for always staying by my side, giving me the hope and courage to live on, even though I had hurt you so much in the past. My life will be a complete darkness without your light and I'd be honored to have the chance to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?"

"Why-why so sudden…" Erza's cheek instantly reddened.

"I remembered what you told me before I passed out." Jellal spoke with a gentle voice and a smile forming at his lips, while Erza feeling the burning heat on her face had extended to her ears. "I don't want you take back those words and I don't see how I could claim you as my fiancée without proposing to you. So Erza Scarlet, what would be your answer?"

"It's a yes, of course!" Erza could not hold the tears in her eyes any longer, but Jellal knew that she was crying tears of joy instead of sadness this time. He wiped away the falling tears on her right cheek with his thumb.

"And Jellal." Erza hold a hand on the wrist of Jellal's left hand which was cupping her cheek, meeting Jellal's eyes with hers which were filled with love and happiness inside, yet her tone sounded heavy. "You will promise that you will always live for me..."

"I promise."

"But not die for me."

Jellal gave Erza a bigger smile. He slid his left hand to the back of Erza's head, pulling her closer to him while raising his head from the pillow until their lips touched. He gave Erza a kiss he hoped was passionate enough to make her loss so that she would not aware that he didn't answer to the second part of her request.

Jellal didn't want to break any of his promise made to Erza that he would not promise Erza something he could not achieve. He knew that if his sacrifice was necessary for keeping Erza safe and alive, he would never hesitate to give up his own life.


	6. Day 6 Love

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail and it's characters, Hiro Mashima dose.**

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**The Irony of Love**

Neither Jellal nor Erza wanted to get up from the bed, although they both had been awaked for some time. The scent, the body warmth and the touch of skin from their other half were just too addictive for them to quit.

Jellal stroke Erza's hair softly, feeling the wonderful silky texture of her red tresses running between his fingers, only stopped after hearing a sigh from Erza.

"What happens?"

Erza clung to Jellal a bit closer. "I don't want to leave you."

"Neither do I." Jellal placed a soft kiss on Erza's forehead.

"But we have to leave each other after stepping out this room." There was a hint of sadness in Erza's voice.

"We'll meet soon again."

"How soon exactly?"

Jellal didn't know, so he stayed silence.

"I didn't mean to push you, I'm sorry." Erza was feeling bad to have given a hard time to Jellal. She should be more considerate about his feelings. "I guess…I'm just a little bit frustrated."

Jellal became nervous hearing Erza's words.

"Is it what we…what I did to you bothering you?"

"No. You did nothing wrong." Erza looked at Jellal tenderly. "What we did…is perfect. You completed me, Jellal."

Jellal smiled with a relief.

"And you completed me too, Erza."

They closed the small distance between their face in a mere second, tasting once again the sweetness of the other's soft lips. The kiss became more passionate after them parting their lips to let their tongues dancing together, and came to a stop when they felt the need of air in their lungs.

"So what makes you feel frustrated?" Jellal asked again while caressing Erza's cheek lovingly.

"I was just thinking about our love…" Erza muttered. "It is a blessing, I'm sure of it. Yet, sometimes it is also the cause of the tortures we are suffering from. It's ironic, isn't it?"

Their love was the reason for Erza always wanting to save Jellal back then, which drove her to become stronger and stronger and finally the strongest female mage in her guild. She learnt to be kind, be gentle, be patience, be forgiving and be a better woman in their love. However, whenever she became vulnerable, heart broken into thousand pieces and tears falling unstoppable, it was also because of the difficult circumstances their love had put her through. This moment was no exception to the strange working of their love, Erza considered. Their love had brought her the ecstasy of joy few hours ago by filling the emptiness in her life with Jellal joining her as one. But if their love had never blossomed, she would not have to suffer from the unspeakable loneliness from being separated from Jellal, once again.

Jellal mused at Erza's thought, and couldn't agree with her more.

"It is."

Their love always kept Jellal moving on and alive. It gave him the courage to take up the responsibility of planning the escape and to rebel against the guard to save Erza when back in the Tower of Heaven. Even after him becoming the evil one, their love was still his hope in a twisted way for only it could bring Erza back to him as his sacrifice to Zeref. Their love gave him direction when he had forgotten everything except Erza, and sustained him in walking the path of redemption after he recovered his memories. Without their love, he would not have survived to this moment to have experienced the ultimate bliss in life of becoming one with Erza. Their love was his salvation. Yet, it was far from being sacred for it involved betrayal, hate, lies and sacrifice, and it was always painful for Jellal to remember that he was the one who tainted their love.

"But still," Jellal wrapped his arm around Erza's waist. "our love is so precious to me that I will not exchange it with any other thing, not even when knowing that the road we walk down in the future will become tougher than before because we choose to be together now."

Erza knew that Jellals was right, the route they had chosen would not be an easy one to take. But the determination and confidence Jellal showed in their love, were all Erza needed to comfort her uneasy heart and to support her in facing every challenge in the future.

"We will break every barrier we meet on the road, together."

"And we will."

Erza wrapped Jellal's neck with both of her arms.

"I love you, Jellal, always."

Jellal pulled Erza closer to him until there was no more space left between their bodies.

"I love you, Erza, with all my life."

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_A/N: This one is rather cheesy I think...I ran out of ideas._


	7. Day 7 Forever

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail and it's characters, Hiro Mashima dose.**

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**A Fairy Tale Ending**

Erza closed the story book in her hand when hearing the snore from her daughter whose head was resting on her lap. She put down the book and carefully carried the girl in her arms, taking her back to her bedroom.

Returning to the master bedroom, Erza found that Jellal had done his showering; now sitting on their bed and reading the story book she just put down five minutes ago. She went to sit down beside him, leaning her body onto his and resting her head on his shoulder. Jellal turned his gaze to Erza and gave her a smile, yet without giving a word and refocused on the story book in the next second. Erza took a deep breath, just so that she could inhale the unique natural scent of Jellal that was like a breeze from the ocean, which was now also mixed with a mild smell of mint from the shower gel he used. Feeling satisfied, Erza then broke the silence between her and Jellal.

"Wanna tell me a bedtime story?" Erza joked.

"If that's your wish, I would be more than happy to fulfill it." Still holding the story book in one hand, Jellal wrapped his other free arm around Erza's shoulders.

Some old time memories surfaced in Erza's head.

"You did, long time ago, when we were child." Erza's voice softened. "Although the stories you told were unlike those fairy tales told in the story book."

"I had tried my best." Jellal responded, remembering how he made up stories about the daily life of a fisherman based on one he knew in real life before he was caught to the Tower of Heaven. These stories might sound boring and lack of fantasy compared with fairy tales. But no one would complain him. As a matter of fact, no children being enslaved would be interested in telling or hearing fairy tales, for they could not believe that happy endings in fairy tales could exist in the real world due to the cruel reality they were forced to face too early in their life.

"I surely appreciated your effort." It was always those small but kind gestures like story telling of Jellal that kept Erza up in despair.

"I'm glad you did." Jellal closed the book in his hand and kissed Erza at her temple.

"Finished? So what made you read our daughter's story book?"

"I'm just curious of what kind of story she likes."

"She likes those stories in which a brave prince saved the princess and then they lived happily ever after. She will ask me if we will also live together happily forever."

"What was your answer?"

"I told her we will."

"She believed?"

"Yes." Erza cupped Jellal's cheek with her hand and looked at Jellal with a confident smile. "And I believe in what I said too."

Erza then leaned forward to kiss Jellal's lips and murmured. "Don't you?"

They were not the prince and princess who lived in fairy tale for sure, but Erza felt that their life was somehow like those romance fairy tales which started with a bitter beginning but turned to a happy one in the process. They were two protagonists fell in love when they were young, separated from each other in their youth, and overcame many tests put upon them in their adulthood to be together finally and even gave birth to a beautiful girl. She started to believe that the happy ending in fairy tale was not unreachable in real life.

Jellal didn't answer Erza immediately but chose to lower his head to her to deepen their kiss. He loved how Erza was always tasted as sweet as her favorite strawberry. He parted his lips from hers when she tried to grasp for air, and moved his lips along her jawline until they touched her ear.

"Might be not forever." Jellal finally whispered his answer to Erza before placing little kisses at her neck.

"Why not?" Erza asked with a bit of surprise before letting out a moan.

"We are not immortal characters living in a fairy tale." Jellal laid Erza down on the bed with his body on top of hers and looked into her eyes with all tenderness. "To live with you two happily till I die is all I ask for."

Erza returned Jellal an understanding smile, before Jellal lovingly and passionately kissed her lips once again.


	8. Day 8 Wrap-up

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail and it's characters, Hiro Mashima dose.**

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**How a Tragic Love Ended**

People called their love tragic.

Not that Erza and Jellal would agree.

Granted, there were obstacles.

They were once child slaves. They once parted theirs way with one walked down to the darkness while the other walked towards the light. They once wanted the dead of the other. They were once sinners who were burdened with the guilt of killing a common friend. They once owed the other the debt of saving their life. They once suppressed their love for the sake of the other. And last but not least, they were repeatedly separated from the other in their life.

But who didn't encounter some obstacles in a relation? Just because theirs were bigger and harder than those faced by other couples didn't mean that their love was deemed to be a tragic one.

After all, they had overcome most of them in their own ways, by courage, kindness, forgiveness, determination and atonement. And they were always thankful that he was no longer subjected to death penalty due to his contribution in the war against the dragons. Not that it meant he was acquitted from his charges. The authority still considered that he should be punished for the past crimes he committed and decided to expel him from Fiore forever.

Therefore, they were still living far away from each other and could not form a marriage because he was an exile. But their hearts were always inseparable, and they would grasp every chance they had to spend time with each other outside Fiore. Their long-distance relationship never made them feel themselves any different from or inferior to other formal couples, as their love was strong and they were practically treating the other as husband and wife whenever they came together.

So they also considered it being natural for her to be pregnant with his child. But many people who knew nothing about them didn't think so. They criticized them as shellfish and irresponsible, when they saw the red tattoo on the baby boy's right cheek which was inherent from his father and realized that she gave born to a child of an exile.

They didn't see the need to seek approval from unrelated people on their decision. They knew the child was a blessing and a proof of their love. And although they could not always stay together as a family, there would be no lack of their unconditional love and guidance in their child's life. Not to mention that their child would be loved and trained by the members of the family-like Fairy Tail.

Time had past, yet their love never faded, and their child grew up as a kind, smart, courageous and talented young mage in Fairy Tail. On the day their son became the S-class mage in the guild, she also declared her retirement from her guild. With the support of their son, she left Fiore to live with the man in her life.

The two lovers finally truly re-united after many years of separation.

People who once saw no good ending in their relation and even looked down on them were all silenced. Some people started viewing their love as romantic and beautiful. There were also people who quoted them as an example of what a perfect couple meant to be. And more and more people were praising them as the living evidence of power of love, demonstrating how love could accomplish things seemed to be impossible to be accomplished.

People used to call their love tragic. But now they knew that their love was legendary.

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_A/N: Day 8 is the wrap-up for Jerza week, no specific theme. What I want to say is that tragic love story is always the most memorable and touching one, and there are evidently many tragic elements in Jerza's love story which make this couple so unique and attractive. So I don't really mind to see them suffering a bit in their relation, as long as their problems could be solved in the end; that's the baseline since I really don't like tragic ending. I hope that Hiro Mashima would allow them a happy ending in the manga._


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